Powder Dogs trip to the Aspen ski area

April 8th to 15th, 2024 

Our end of season Snowmass trip has become very popular. What started out in 2016  with just 5 members going, has grown to 50.  We saw perfect weather for the first 3 days. Blue skies with temps in the upper 30's which made the snow nice and soft. Great skiing. The last two days warmed up a little more creating some heavy snow from mid mountain down. But if you stayed up top, snow was fine. On Friday, we had around 20 members go ski Aspen Mountain. While we had NO injuries on this trip, (always a good thing), we did have two members get a 24 hour bug, and another ate some food which didn't agree with him and put him down for a day.

We had 3 condo parties. The first was a welcoming party on the arrival day. The second was the club dinner on Thursday, and the last night was the leftover food party. Many say the condo parties are one of the best thing about the trip as you get to know other club members. We had 6 members participate in a non-stop, top to bottom, thigh burner run on Wednesday afternoon. This event is gaining traction with more participating every trip. It's not about who finishes first, it's that you finished without stopping. 

One highlight of the trip was we saw Snowmass's End of Season Party at the top of the gondola on Saturday. There was music, outdoor grilling, hot tubs, costumes, and the famous pond skim. One costume that stood out was a guy wearing a full light beige color, skin tight, body suit which made it look as if he was naked. Many took a second look.

If you want to join the fun on  our next end of season trip, it will be the first or second week of April. Mark it down in your calendars now. Deposits will start being taken in the fall.

Rick and Laurie
Snowmass trip leaders

 April 9th to 15th, 2023 

We didn't get much new snow this trip but we got plenty of sun. If any of you were wondering, the light brown patches we had in the snow were caused by winds blowing dust and dirt from the deserts in Nevada and Utah. The warmer temps caused the snow to be soft and wetter than normal and the dust/dirt was attracted to it. Seems most of Utah and Colorado resorts all had this issue.

We had 48 people on this trip. A club record for any trip. Out of the 48 people, 36 were on one of the previous seven spring trips to Snowmass. This tells me everyone is having a good time because they keep coming back.

This trip keeps growing every year. Our first trip was 8 years ago with just 6 people. Last year we had 34 people. Just ask anyone who's been on this trip before and they usually say it's the most fun they have on a trip. Yeah, Snowmass is a great mountain, but it's the sunny days, the warmer temps in the 30's, the good snow, NO crowds, and a great group of people that like to have fun while skiing.

Don't say it doesn't snow in April!

The Sunday evening "Get to Know Everyone Pizza Party" was well attended. On Monday, a group went on a tour of Snowmass mountain. At times we had high winds on the mountains due to an upcoming storm approaching. Blowing snow created patches and drifts of snow on the mountain which were fun blasting through. 

On Tuesday, we woke to 27" of snow. Laurie and I have been hosting the trip to Snowmass since 2014. Every trip, with the exception of one, a storm would come through and give us 5" to 12" of snow. This time we received 27" of snow. That's thigh deep for most people. You usually don't get the opportunity to experience that much snow unless you live in the mountains. Due to all the snow we received, snow conditions were fantastic the rest of the week. For those who were on the 2022 trip, it will be one you will remember forever.

We had four people take advantage of the free ski lessons given by Jeff and Rick on Tuesday morning. There would have been more but some people's skis stuck to the fresh snow and had to get their skis waxed. Tuesday evening we had a Taco party in Rick and Laurie's condo and had many stories to tell from their deep snow experiences that day.

Everyone got out Wednesday morning and enjoyed another day of snow up to their boot tops and more. After lunch on Wednesday, a group of 7 hiked up to the top of Longshot and skied the 5 mile run of deep snow through the trees. It took almost an hour for the group to come down due to their Midwest legs and took a long break at the bottom afterwards. At 3:30 pm, a few attended the thigh burner top to bottom run. Mike and Stephen Nelson came in 3rd and 4th. Congrats to the two of them!

On Thursday, a group went to ski Aspen Mountain. The morning was cloudy but the sun came out after lunch. With the sun and fresh snow, the group took the opportunity and skied down Ruthie's Run and most of the World Cup downhill run.

On Friday evening, we had "Left Over Night" where we ate what food was left over from the trip. Everyone their had a story about their deep snow experiences during the week. It was the perfect end to a memorable trip.

Rick and Laurie

Trip leaders

The 2020 trip was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.

April 4 - 10, 2021

It was a strange trip with Covid restrictions still in effect.  Although there were to large group get togethers, there were some small gatherings at lunch and after the Annual John Wright Thigh Burner Run, which Mike Nelson won 2nd place and 2 margaritas. Also during the week the NASTAR Nationals were running and Dave Clark won first place in his bracket.

 April 7th to April 13th 2019 

The trip just keeps getting bigger. We had 32 people this trip.  Mike Nelson was the winner of the 2019 Annual Thigh Burner Challenge and won a free margarita.  We had a Welcome Party day of arrival with appetizers and beverages. Later in the week, we had an outdoor buffet BBQ dinner with drinks and snacks. Later in the week we had a Pot Luck dinner at the condo to finish up the left overs.

April 2nd to April 8th, 2017

We had 23 people this trip. First day Monday, we had 2 to 3 inches of fresh snow. Rick took part of the group for a tour of Snowmass mountain and visited the three peaks and three main on mountain restaurants. Monday night there was an outdoor barbeque dinner when it started to snow. Tuesday morning we had around 10 inches of fresh powder and a group of us went up to the top of Big Burn for First Tracks an hour before the chairlifts opened to the public. Due to lack of crowds, we had fresh snow to almost lunch time. Tuesday evening there was a group dinner in Rick and Laurie's condo for appetizers, salad, lasagna, garlic bread, beer and wine.

Wednesday was a perfect day. Blue skies, 30 degrees, and perfect snow from Tuesday's storm. Some took the day off and went into Aspen. But for those that skied Snowmass, we had outstanding snow and groomed conditions in Elk Camp all day. There was the Thigh Burner race and after we met down at Venga Venga for margaritas.

Thursday and Friday were spring conditions with temps in the 50's. Thursday, some of the group went to Aspen mountain and skied Ajax and the run the World Cup races were held on in early March. On Friday, Dave Clark got 10 of us organized for Nastar racing at Snowmass. We're a fast group as many received medals.

Overall A GREAT TRIP!